Russian Olympic team: Tchaikovsky instead of the national anthem


Status: 07/20/2021 05:04 a.m.

More than 300 Russian athletes compete in the Olympics in Tokyo – as a team, not as a nation. The expectations of the National Olympic Committee remain high. There are already the first doping cases.

By Stephan Laack, ARD Studio Moscow,
currently Cologne

Russian gymnast David Beljawskij can’t wait for the Olympic Games to begin. Before leaving for Tokyo, he promised to give everything at the summer games: “The attitude is just great. I hope that we will return in a similarly good mood. And that we will make our fans happy.”

The sports enthusiasts in front of the TVs will see the 329 Russian athletes in neutral dress: Due to the sanctions for doping offenses, the major sports power is not allowed to start under the Russian flag. The official outfit is in the national colors white, blue and red, but the “Russia” lettering on it is removed. At award ceremonies, the “Piano Concerto Number 1” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky will be played instead of the national anthem.

Clear goals at these games too: Stanislav Posdnyakov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee, expects 50 medals for the team.

Image: AP

It should be “about 50 medals”

The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislaw Posdnjakow, is delighted that the athletes are allowed to compete under neutral status. And he immediately raised expectations a little: Just because Russia does not start under its own flag, it does not mean that it has no ambitions.

“As you all know, athletes and not nations compete against each other at the Olympics. That is why the medal table is not official, but the task is no less small,” he emphasized. “Last time our team took fourth place in the medal table. This time we expect a better result. That’s why we’re hoping for third place in the medal table, with a total of around 50 medals.”

The doping fight is on the right track, said Posdnyakov. The Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA was fulfilling all obligations and was working well with the world anti-doping agency WADA. “We sincerely hope that there will be no doping problems in these games. We advocate zero tolerance for doping.”

Again, athletes demonstrated meldonium use

But even before the games start, there are the first cases in the Russian team. So the row quad will not start. This was announced by the Russian Rowing Association after two team members tested positive. In Nikita Morgachow and Pavel Sorin the forbidden hormone substance meldonium had been proven, which causes a higher resilience and faster regeneration.

Posdnyakov complained that it was a blatant incident and the stupidest violation of all. Around 40 Russian athletes are banned for illegal use of meldonium. The Russian athletics team is particularly thin, as the association remains suspended as a whole and only individual athletes could apply for individual starting permits.

Putin railed against the “politicization” of doping allegations

Russian President Vladimir Putin, himself a sports enthusiast, gave a reception for the Olympic team at the end of June and used the opportunity to warn not of doping abuse, but of political attacks, which “unfortunately still have not disappeared from the agenda”.

“The rights and interests of our athletes must be protected against any arbitrariness – also against decisions that individual countries enforce, far beyond their national powers,” he said at the time.

Doping allegations against Russia from the West are politically motivated, the Kremlin boss has made this clear again and again – and that is now also seen in other parts of the world, says Putin. With all his heart, he wished the Russian athletes a dazzling victory as well as a dignified and honest fight as they said goodbye to Tokyo.



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